Milan Kolundzija
03-20-2013, 07:19 PM
Hello all,
I was hoping someone can help me with a question. I am somewhat confused. About a year ago I started taking medications for my Social Anxiety Disorder and anxiety in general. A few months before starting those prescriptions, I started having various phsyiscal symptoms (internal shaking, dizziness, high blood pressure, head pressure). Through my whole childhood I had various symptoms that now are a clear reflection of Social Anxiety. I was always afraid to make friends and afraid to go out. I had various physical symptoms such as racing heart and sweating when I was in-front of people. When I started taking my first medication, I felt alot better. I first started taking Zoloft 50 mg, was upped to 100 mg and then the medication stopped working after a few months. Zoloft helped tremendously with my mood and irritability and decreased some of the symptoms I was having. After that, I was put on on Effexor XR. After taking it about six months, the side effects were too much and the medication seemed to stop working. My psychiatrist had tried to increase the dose up to 225, but this caused serious side effects such as hallucinations and I had to stop. Finally, a few months ago (back in November) I was put on Lexapro 10mg. I was taking it once a day and it seemed to work very well. However, since many of the symptoms such as the internal shaking were still present, we increased the dose to 15 mg. After I increased it, all the physical symptoms seemed to disappear Lexapro seems to be the best medication and there seems to be no side effects. However, even though many of the physical symptoms have disappeared, on a consistent basis I feel very irritated, agitated and want to blow up. I feel as if a cloud comes over me and I get very defensive and don't want to talk to anyone. When this comes I tend tol feel down alot. I have alot of dreams and aspirations but I seem not to have any motivation or interest to do anything. When I am at work I can't wait to come home, but when I am home I consistently feel bored and have no interest in doing things that I want to do. I would love to read but something in my mind keeps pulling me back. My doctor had prescribed Neurontin (Gabentin) for my every day anxiety and it seems to help with the irritability and agitation, but it makes me very tired. However, most days I still feel very lethargic out of energy and no motivation to do anything. I will spend hours watching tv and laying around. The only time I feel motivated to do anything is studying and doing homework. I feel like not doing anything. I feel as if I have to watch TV and I can't seem to focus enough to try anything else. I feel so discouraged from trying anything else. I have so many plans that I want to complete, but I so pessimistic that anything will succeed. I feel if it is not a chore then I don't want to do it. Even spending time with my family sometimes feels like a chore. I just have no pleasure in spending time with anyone and constantly feel like being alone. I want to be happy and motivated to pursue my interests and have pleasure in something in life. I want to have friends, but I just don't know what do do. This loneliness is so depressing. I only have a few friends that I have from work, but other than that I spend alot of time at home or at school. I stil can't understand what is wrong with me. Am I suffering from Depression? What is causing this constant agitation/anger? I thought about asking my doctor to try adding another anti-depressant or even trying Abilify. What does everything think?
I was hoping someone can help me with a question. I am somewhat confused. About a year ago I started taking medications for my Social Anxiety Disorder and anxiety in general. A few months before starting those prescriptions, I started having various phsyiscal symptoms (internal shaking, dizziness, high blood pressure, head pressure). Through my whole childhood I had various symptoms that now are a clear reflection of Social Anxiety. I was always afraid to make friends and afraid to go out. I had various physical symptoms such as racing heart and sweating when I was in-front of people. When I started taking my first medication, I felt alot better. I first started taking Zoloft 50 mg, was upped to 100 mg and then the medication stopped working after a few months. Zoloft helped tremendously with my mood and irritability and decreased some of the symptoms I was having. After that, I was put on on Effexor XR. After taking it about six months, the side effects were too much and the medication seemed to stop working. My psychiatrist had tried to increase the dose up to 225, but this caused serious side effects such as hallucinations and I had to stop. Finally, a few months ago (back in November) I was put on Lexapro 10mg. I was taking it once a day and it seemed to work very well. However, since many of the symptoms such as the internal shaking were still present, we increased the dose to 15 mg. After I increased it, all the physical symptoms seemed to disappear Lexapro seems to be the best medication and there seems to be no side effects. However, even though many of the physical symptoms have disappeared, on a consistent basis I feel very irritated, agitated and want to blow up. I feel as if a cloud comes over me and I get very defensive and don't want to talk to anyone. When this comes I tend tol feel down alot. I have alot of dreams and aspirations but I seem not to have any motivation or interest to do anything. When I am at work I can't wait to come home, but when I am home I consistently feel bored and have no interest in doing things that I want to do. I would love to read but something in my mind keeps pulling me back. My doctor had prescribed Neurontin (Gabentin) for my every day anxiety and it seems to help with the irritability and agitation, but it makes me very tired. However, most days I still feel very lethargic out of energy and no motivation to do anything. I will spend hours watching tv and laying around. The only time I feel motivated to do anything is studying and doing homework. I feel like not doing anything. I feel as if I have to watch TV and I can't seem to focus enough to try anything else. I feel so discouraged from trying anything else. I have so many plans that I want to complete, but I so pessimistic that anything will succeed. I feel if it is not a chore then I don't want to do it. Even spending time with my family sometimes feels like a chore. I just have no pleasure in spending time with anyone and constantly feel like being alone. I want to be happy and motivated to pursue my interests and have pleasure in something in life. I want to have friends, but I just don't know what do do. This loneliness is so depressing. I only have a few friends that I have from work, but other than that I spend alot of time at home or at school. I stil can't understand what is wrong with me. Am I suffering from Depression? What is causing this constant agitation/anger? I thought about asking my doctor to try adding another anti-depressant or even trying Abilify. What does everything think?